Rosary and funeral services are planned this week for a veteran LAPD officer who died in a crash with a dump truck.
Nicholas Choung Lee, 40, died when the squad car he and his partner were in collided with a trash truck in Beverly Hills on Friday. The truck driver was also injured, but is also expected to recover, police said.
The injured female officer has been released from the hospital, a department spokeswoman said.
The officer -- identified only as Stephanie -- had been taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Hospital in critical condition after the crash. She was released from the hospital Saturday night, LAPD spokeswoman Officer Rosario Herrera said.
Officer Stephanie was just three months out of the LAPD academy when the cruiser she shared with her training officer.
The crash near Robert Lane and Loma Vista Drive was reported about 8 a.m. Friday, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
The truck may have lost its brakes, but an investigation is ongoing. Investigators have begun dismantling the dump truck to check for any possible mechanical malfunction, a process that could take weeks.
It could take another four months before all the calculations and scene re-creations are finished.
Lee was a 16-year veteran who received more than 70 commendations. He had previously been assigned to the Van Nuys and Wilshire Stations prior to the Hollywood Station, police said.
Lee was the 205th LAPD officer to die in the line of duty, according the LAPPL. The last was SWAT Officer Randy Simmons in 2008.
Two LAPD officers died in Iraq in 2010 while serving in the U.S. military, police said.
Lee is survived by his wife and two young daughters, police said.
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Condolences have been written from across the country. At the Hollywood station, members of the community dropped off food and flowers to offer support.
A fund has been set up for his survivors. The address for donations is: Los Angeles Police Federal Credit Union/Attention: Nicholas Lee/Blue Ribbon Fund/P.O. Box 10188/Van Nuys, CA/91410.
A rosary will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at St. Basil Church, 3611 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles;
A funeral will be held Thursday at 9 a.m., at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles. The burial will follow on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 1712 S. Glendale Ave., in Glendale.
